It seemed like a good idea at the time. Take a prime piece of undeveloped
Hong Kong property overlooking the sea and turn it into an ultra-modern,
synergistic center for technology and computer firms: Cyber-Port. It would
be the focal point for the Special Administrative Region's attempt to grow
an entirely new industry. But something amazing happened between conception
of this vision little more than a year ago and execution, which is still
two years off: the envisioned industry arose on its own and is thriving
without any help.

Large clots of Internet and e-commerce start-ups already have gathered in
locales far less pristine and planned than Richard Li's $1.7-billion technology
park-cum-residential estate development set for the west side of Hong Kong
island. It turns out that the IT start-ups need much less in the way of
paternalistic support from governments and more of such things as computer-friendly
air-conditioning, fiber-optic wiring to provide fast Internet connections
and reasonable lease terms. And they need these things fast. The verdict
on Cyber-Port, at least from the community of Netrepreneurs who might have
been the likeliest candidates for tenancy: too late and too yesterday in
a business where one calendar month is the equivalent of one year in Web
time.

Ironically (or was it just astute), Li's powerful tycoon father, Li Ka-shing,
is landlord to perhaps the largest single brood of e-innovators. Originally,
Li senior had planned to devote a few floors of his 80-story skyscraper,
The Center, to a giant bookstore. A leisurely browse here, an idle few hours
there. Instead, Li got high-speed browsers and driven, twenty-something
IT workers whose only visible concessions to leisure are the khaki pants
and Polo shirts they wear as they scurry about the office. Since the start
of the year, The Center has become the nesting ground for about 40 technology
companies that make up close to 70% of new tenants.

So
Much for Planning

Sheung
WanThe Center: IT tenants fill more than 70% of Li Ka-shing's
two-year-old, 80-story skycraper. Among the renters: Tom.com, iLink.net
and Softbank Investment (HK)The International Finance Center: Uninterrupted power supply,
dual telephone trunk lines and backbone fiber-optic system have enticed
tenants like Level 3 and AsiaOnline to the SAR's smartest intelligent
buildingDotcom House: Renamed and retrofitted to be tech friendly,
this once-shunned high- rise has used cheap, short-term leases to
attract clients like renren.com

Wan
Chai
The sales offices of Internet and telecommunications companies have
replaced girly bars as the neighborhood's hottest destinations

Sai
Kung
A more relaxed lifestyle and the Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology are the main attractions for researchers and scientists
who study, work and play many kilometers from the bustle and air pollution
of downtown Hong Kong

Microseconds
away (as the e-mail flies) is the International Finance Center, with an
IT occupancy of 5% (that does not include a large number of banking and
finance companies that work closely with the dotcoms). And just a couple
of blocks away is Dotcom House, an aging, 22-story building that has been
transformed into perhaps the hippest address for Internet-related firms.
Clusters of technology companies are forming up and down Hong Kong island.
In Wan Chai, an estimated 14 Internet service providers have set up shop.
Continuing east along Hong Kong island are many other small- and medium-sized
technology companies like Space Asia Media, which provides technology and
marketing advice to publishers and advertisers -- one of about 10 similar
ventures in a concentrated area. Further on is Boom.com, the online stock
trader.

It is apparently unnecessary even to be physically close to the action.
In rural Sai Kung in the New Territories, a growing assemblage of techies
have built an enviable life. Combine a beautiful shoreline, the Hong Kong
University of Science and Technology and a full-fledged information technology
cell with research, development and recreational facilities: voilá, a vibrant
tech hub. "There's a close-knit community of R&D and scientific people living
[in Sai Kung]," says Philip Leung, CEO of Chinese Books Cyberstores. "They
play tennis there, play golf there, go out to the beaches whenever they
want."

Togetherness is not just a social thing when it comes to e-businesses all
over Hong Kong. For example, Billy Tam, CEO of data center iLink.net, has
unwittingly helped pull more than a few additional Internet tenants to The
Center by servicing existing customers: "We're on the 56th floor and have
direct fiber optic lines to the 19th, 45th, 53rd, 55the and 65th floors,
where we have customers. It's easy for them to just come up for trouble-shooting
or a minor upgrade." The Center has a raised floor of 360 mm, compared to
150 mm in regular offices, which is enough to conceal chunks of fiber-optic
cable and allow for 20 years worth of wiring upgrades. Air-conditioning
comes from under the floors, the best option for computer-strewn offices.
Kelvin Lai is strategy director for Netalone.com, an application service
provider and incubator, which occupies the 68th floor at The Center. "The
Center comes close to what an intelligent building should be," he says.

Even in office towers not specifically designed to be smart, a critical
mass of tech tenants sometimes enables them to negotiate for their special
needs. Anthony Cheng, founder of a company called renren.com, says a group
of start-ups at Dotcom House successfully bargained for a range of improvements:
"We got the landlord to wire the building with cat-five [fiber-optic cable],
put in lots of phone lines, 24-hour air-conditioning and a back-up power
generator." Given that the highrise was empty from 1996 until the middle
of last year in its earlier incarnation as the Financial Service Building,
changing with the technology times seemed to pay off for the landlord as
well. Rent is a low, low $1.40 per sq ft at Dotcom House (inclusive of utilities
and management fees). Yet developer Nelson Chan says the most appealing
part about his building for the tenants may be short-term leases. Rather
than forcing a five-year lease on tenants as most commercial landlords do
in Hong Kong, Dotcom House signs deals for as short as one year -- "In case
the start-ups aren't around longer," adds Chan ruefully.

In the Central District can be found many bankers and venture capitalists.
On the fringes, the techies gather. "The International Finance Center is
Hong Kong's premier IT address," says Lane Leskela, research director for
e-commerce intelligence services at Gartner Group (Asia Pacific). "It confers
a certain status: You can afford the prestige to be located there. People
take you seriously." The inevitable interaction of people and ideas is a
bonus. Says Tam of iLink.net: "IT people love to get together and talk.
You walk into the cafes and restaurants in the area and you see hordes of
people exchanging ideas."

In other words, a few technical essentials, a good lease and a critical
mass of dotcom energy probably mean much more to creating a good tech address
than a sea view. Does Hong Kong still need Cyber-Port? The first phase of
the project, eventually planned to be 1 million sq ft of office space for
30 anchor tenants and 100 start-ups, should be ready by 2002. The entire
project is scheduled to come online by 2007. Says Penny Wong, general manager
of YaShow.com, an entertainment portal at The Center: "For portal companies
like us, we don't need Cyber-Port." Argues developer Chan of Dotcom House:
"There really is no need for Cyber-Port. IT companies, established or not,
come together before you know it." Ralph Stefanelli, telecommunications
manager for Cyber-Port, concedes that the infrastructure of the project
won't be revolutionary: "Everyone can spend the money and wire up their
building."

Others
believe Cyber-Port is a critical building block in Hong Kong's dream of
becoming Asia's dotcom capital. It's impossible to say how important the
original announcement of Cyber-Port 14 months ago was in terms of encouraging
a tech industry -- the subsequent scent of money undoubtedly was key to
fostering and sustaining interest among future Netrepreneurs -- but there
is no question that Hong Kong has responded quickly. "I support Cyber-Port
not because of its physical existence but because of what it means," says
Cyberstores' Leung. "It has galvanized the whole community, raising people's
awareness about technology." Agrees Leskela of the Gartner Group: "As an
R&D center, Cyber-Port is a long-term incubator. Most important, it keeps
Hong Kong on the map from a marketing point of view."

According to Cyber-Port's Stefanelli, technology advances will "allow you
to use your mobile phone to turn on your air-conditioning while driving
to work, so that your office will be cool when you get there. With our own
wireless network, you can also carry your laptop around and connect to the
Net without wires anywhere in Cyber-Port." Stefanelli adds that the development
will differ from normal intelligent buildings because of shared facilities.
"We'll have an IT street, a multimedia lab and a cyber library."

Cyber-Port shouldn't have a problem finding tenants, even if many prospects
have already set up camp elsewhere and no longer seem to need such a facility.
About 215 local and international companies have applied for space, and
15 tenants have signed letters of intent. Since the Cyber-Port land was
granted free of charge by the government, rents will be heavily subsidized.
Office leases will be as cheap as $1 to $1.50 per sq ft -- comparable to
the revamped Dotcom House. Philip Leung of Cyberstores even hopes his romantic
dreams of a collegial high-tech community pursuing soaring dotcom success
will come true. "When I was munching lunch in Woodside, near Silicon Valley,
Jim Clark [founder of Netscape] was sitting at the next table," Leung says.
"I hope we'll be able to achieve that kind of talent convergence in Cyber-Port."
Take heart, Philip, your dream may be nearer than you think.